I really didn’t have any spare time this weekend. Yesterday I flew to Utah to drive the new Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness, so I had a lot of work to do on Sunday to prepare: I had articles to write, applications to finish reviewing, merchandise I had to ship, and on and on. And yet I spent three hours at a junkyard on Sunday, baking under the hot sun. Why? Because I decided to break the cardinal rule; I looked. This is a problem that many of my car-friends also struggle with: They’re constantly browsing Craigslist instead of just ignoring it, and the result is: They get themselves into dumb situations.
On Sunday the sun was beating hard against my face in Southern California. I’d forgotten my hat, and knew I’d have a sunburn as a result. I was sweating like a cold can of pop on a muggy day, and, as the person responsible for keeping this site running and growing, I really, really had a lot of non-wrenching shit to do. Why was I at the ‘yard? The answer: Because I looked. I did what many folks convince themselves is just “innocuous browsing,” specifically of the inventory of my local junkyard, the LKQ Pick-A-Part in Sun Valley.
I’d banged in my regular “jeep” search term to see what was in the ‘yard — “hmm, looks like a 1994 ZJ Grand Cherokee. And it appears to have a front brush guard; intriguing,” I thought:
I clicked the link and took a closer look at the ZJ. “It appears to have oversized tires and side steps; if only those were rock rails.”
“Let’s get another look at that brush guard,” I pondered, curious. “Ah, it’s one of those that hooks to the front structure via two vertical main members. There’s no winch mount built in, and since I plan to add a winch to my ZJ, I don’t know that I’m really that interested.”
“But hey, look at the rear; are those taillight protectors? I might want those.” Let’s look a bit more closely:
“Hmm, those are tailli— WAIT JUST A SECOND. Is that a…surely it’s not a…it can’t be…” [I slowly clicked my mouse to next photo while controlling breathing with a paper bag]:
“HOLY CRAP! It is! It’s the holy grail of Jeep ZJ accessories: the coveted official Jeep spare tire carrier!”
At this point, there was no turning back. You see, these are unbelievably rare — so rare, in fact, that I’ve already written two articles about them this year. This is now the third, making The Autopian the official authority on the ZJ “official” spare tire carrier — we’ll have to add that to our list of accolades.
My first article, titled “My Current ‘Random Car-Part Obsession’ Is The Hyper-Rare Jeep Grand Cherokee Factory Spare Tire Carrier. What’s Yours?” describes why these bent-up tubes are so special that I was about to drop $250 on one.
From that article:
I’m about to spend $250 on a spare tire carrier — that’s half of what I’ve spent on some entire vehicles! Why, you might ask? Well, this spare tire carrier is hyper-rare, and I’m one of those snobs who believes factory-original is golden. Plus, aftermarket spare tire carriers require the replacement of the rear bumper, and that totally changes the look of a machine that I think looks swell in stock form.
[…]
That’s far too much money, but the seller has a monopoly! ZJ spare tire carriers are like hens’ teeth — complete unobtanium. I’ve never seen one for sale, and I’ve maybe only ever seen one on the road. They’re not exactly elegant, and they really eat into that departure angle; I’m not thrilled about that. Honestly, I’m worried I’ll bend mine off-road, but we’ll see.
Then later I wrote “How I’m Building The Greatest Jeep Grand Cherokee Ever By Using Rare Original Parts” discussing the trek I took out to Fontana to buy a spare tire carrier from a sketchy impound lot (at night! See below), and what it took to get the thing off the ZJ. Plus, I wrote about how I’ve amassed the ultimate Jeep ZJ parts to build the very best all-factory-parts Jeep Grand Cherokee in existence.
Here’s a little blurb from that article wherein I attempt to justify spending all that time and money on a trailer hitch with some tubing meant to carry a tire:
In addition, the spare tire takes up far too much room in the ZJ’s cargo area — a gripe darn-near every reviewer in the 1990s mentioned during evaluation – so I’m currently in the process of picking up a hyper-rare, dealer-installed, MOPAR spare tire carrier.
Anyway, I’ve made my point: ZJ spare tire carriers are rare and extremely cool. This caused a problem, because I’d just found that a local junkyard had one in stock, but I really had no time to get it. Naturally, I just made time.
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It was a half an hour to the junkyard, then two hours arduously toiling with a ridiculously heavy spare tire carrier with a spare wheel and tire chained to it (the previous owner was probably tired of having the spare stolen), and then another half hour back home.
Honestly, it was a grind. Though I had power tools at my disposal (one thing I’ve learned getting older: Just spend the money on the battery-powered tools), I still wound up covered in grease, sweaty, and tired. And yet, part of me loved it. A BIG part of me loved it. I’ve spent so much time doing business on this laptop whose keys I’m currently banging that any chance to spin a wrench feels like it’s healing my soul. Still, my soul later took a beating from all the work that I had backing up, so part of me thinks that, indeed, the best solution really is to just not look at the local junkyard inventory, lest it put you into such a tough spot.
But then, when I was done unscrewing the factory mud flaps from the Jeep, I called up Jason, the Autopian reader to whom I’d sold my 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee five-speed just before I moved out of Michigan. The joy in his voice upon hearing that I’d just scored him the unobtainium, official, dealer-installed spare tire carrier so that he can continue making his Jeep the most perfect one on earth — it made it all worth it. He’d just re-done the factory interior on his rare base-model ZJ, and he had the original radio installed with a hidden bluetooth receiver; he’s giving that ZJ more love than I ever had the time (or resources) to give it, so he deserves this spare tire carrier. His appreciation — and the knowledge that this rare piece of history won’t go to a crusher — made the inconvenience all worth it.
This is not the first time I’ve been forced by the car-gods to drive to the junkyard at an inopportune time. I once saw a razor-grille Jeep J10 truck in a Michigan junkyard, and the vehicle had a rare “hood bar” that fills the gap at the center of the hood. This piece:
Naturally, I drove over and snagged that. So many folks convert their Jeep SJ grilles to the Razor-style, but are unable to find a hood bar. This should help them complete their Jeep. I actually just offered my grille bar to a guy I saw at Porsche Cars and Coffee in Santa Clarita (you should attend if you’re in LA the first Saturday of any given month; it’s put on by Autopian co-founder Beau’s incredible Porsche dealership) who was missing it. But he’d just bought one and had it painted. Someday, though, someone will really appreciate my find.
Anyway, it’s not just junkyard inventory lists that have gotten me into trouble. Remember that broken FC I bought way out in Washington? Look at how much of a shitshow this caused!:
And just last week I committed to buy this 1963 Studebaker Champ pickup!:
Three grand for a rock-solid, bench-seat-equipped, stamped-tailgate-equipped, three-on-the-tree pickup!? How could anyone resist that? Nevermind that it was all the way up in Sumner, Washington and that I had absolutely no time to get it. It’s probably for the best that the seller sold it out from under me.
But who didn’t sell a car from under me was Celso, the man who sold me the Nissan Leaf on Saturday after I’d spotted it for far too cheap on Facebook Marketplace. You can read all about my acquisition of the cheapest (functional…ish) electric car sold in America here.
Right now I’m sitting in Zion National Park in Utah, land of the cheap, rust-free Jeep, and you bet your ass I’m “browsing” through Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace just waiting to find a deal so hot that I cannot resist, no matter how much of a shitshow obtaining and fixing it will yield.
So take it from a man with numerous physical and emotional scars: It really is best just not to look.
hey! that’s the yard i have been frequenting for years, looks like now I got competition! 🙂 Just kidding!
I peruse that yards postings regularly too. That yard has gone way down hill. Used to be cheap and they had 40% off weekends. Now they jacked up prices and stick the optional warranty fee on there if you dont remember to ask them to take it off. Plus most of the cashiers are women that have no idea what the parts are and ring you up wrong. David, what did you end up paying for all that? must have been 300-400 bucks since they charge you for every nut and bolt!
I saw this come up last week and i was too lazy to grab it. posted about it on a few forums, glad to see you go it.
Theyre uncommon in so cal, but not the holy grail you make them out to be. These things ran around commonly in so cal in the 90s.
Didnt know David was local to so cal now. I’d shoot the shit about ZJs over a beer if youre ever down.
Sexism has no place here. Thanks.
I have much the same problem picking up rare or hard to find parts in the yard.
I already have one NP242HD (rare option on V8 WJs) I haven’t adapted to my XJ over the past year it’s been in the garage, but that didn’t stop me from picking up a second from the junkyard! While there I saw a good set of early XJ tilt seat bases, I bet I can adapt those to my late model with a welder! I’ll put the FR-S seats I found in a TJ on top of them. Well, I want to manual swap my XJ… why not pick up two AX15 transmissions even though one is RWD? Never know when you might need some parts off of one!
The amount of free time I have has dwindled, but my appetite for picking up new parts to make into projects hasn’t caught up.
Huzzah! Quality rusty busted knuckle content!
Some people can’t pass up strip clubs. David can’t pass up junkyards.
To be fair, there’s a lot of stripping there too.
And now I’m left wondering… which is more expensive?
Probably the strip clubs…
dollar per hour strip club. hours per dollar (and time cumulatively) junk yard
Right now I’m sitting and you bet your ass I’m “browsing” through Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace just waiting to find a deal so hot that I cannot resist, no matter how much of a shitshow obtaining and fixing it will yield.
And that is how I ended up with a garage ceiling absolutely packed with bikes…
The Hyper rare part im searching for is a low seat for my BMW 1150gs. Previous owner was taller and had more weight. I need to gets the suspension redone but im hoping a seat. I think i might try to go to AMA vintage days to find one next year. and other reasons
The AMA Vintage Days swap meet at Mid-Ohio this year was *huge*: it extended farther than I’ve ever seen it.
There are some BMW-specific sellers there. I’m not a BMW person but this guy usually has a nice display: https://kirksmotorrad.com/
(I have a friend named Kirk who speaks German, so I usually send him a pic of the sign)
I follow kirk on youtube. Good stuff for an oilhead owner. I heard how crazy it was from the Cleveland Moto guys. Again maybe next year, I should take a wad of cash and see what kind of airhead or wierd ass bike i come home with. Air Head, early k bike, or a Honda Pacific Coast are on my Radar
I saw the Cleveland Moto folks (think it was them) recording their podcast on the AMA stage in the infield area.
And you totally should do the wad-of-cash thing next year, but get a hotel there Thursday night so you can be on-site early Friday morning. The venue starts letting vendors in at noon Thursday to set up and selling starts Friday.
There are tons of bikes available, and generally at least one or two notaries have spots in the swap meet to help with titles.
I see that the True David is still having a little fight in him, battling off Hollywood Dave the Business Man.
Careful DT, looks like you’re back to hoarding cars again.
I keep feeling tempted to upgrade some of the interior trim in my ’97 ZJ, when I know I should focus on fixing the rear driver’s side window already. (At least it failed in the closed position.)
I’m also starting to collect ephemera again, my latest piece being a booklet featuring the 1997 Jeep lineup. I was surprised to see the spare tire carrier featured prominently as an accessory.
Yo, man…that’s 2 colons 1
cupsentence. (I’m still interested in that editor opening, BTW!)Anyway, this is why I politely ask people not to send me car ads unless I’m explicitly looking for a thing. The entire internet will know when Cayenne Time is nigh—at that point, I’ll just draw the line at third-gens, questionable mods and overpriced auction sites. Same goes with adding dual-carbs or fuel injection to the 411. I will ask for help finding the parts when the time comes.
Until then, though? Stop it. All of you, as in, the entire internet—get some help. Buying cars and other things is my least favorite part of the vehicle experience. That’s blowing valuable currency that I could use to hoon what I have instead. It’s also depressing as hell to see something really neat that you just can’t afford for whatever reason. I don’t understand the constantly shopping mentality at all. Is that something that comes with financial stability or disposable income? I’m a mostly unemployed journalist who owns two parsh-powered race cars, dammit. I don’t know what that feels like.
Are you saying David needs a colon cleanse?
BRB, fetching the ghost chilies
Maybe. But it’s also about the math:
As a result of constant searching, a few years ago I got really lucky and happened upon a lot of items from a 40-year-old bike: they had just been made available on eBay with excellent buy-it-now prices. I bought, well, most of them (seat, tank, exhaust, gauges, etc) and the seller threw in a lot of other useful parts for free, which was a very nice thing to do.
It broke my heart that someone was parting out a bike with just over one thousand miles on it, but the disassembly had already been done. 🙁
Aw, man. That’s a bummer that they parted out a bike that pristine. I came across a mid-restoration 944 in a junkyard like that—the owner drove it in, and the staff didn’t have the heart to drill into its oil pan. The owner’s monster of a significant other apparently gave its owner an ultimatum: her or the car. I daresay the car would’ve been a less toxic choice, but some of its parts live on in the ‘lump.
There’s also the other math that isn’t being taken into account here: if you don’t have extra money to shop right now, it’s a moot point whether you’re looking for rare parts or not. Personally speaking, I just can’t buy stuff right now. It’s depressing when people send me a rare Type 4 part they’ve found. I might want it, but I can’t justify buying it right now. Everything’s on hold until stable employment comes along, so I don’t want to look at ads. Please don’t remind me of all the stuff I can’t buy, cars I can’t fix and things I can’t do. It’s depressing as hell, and a reflection of my broader failures in life.
The 944 would definitely have been the less toxic choice – damn. 😮 Ultimatums have no place in healthy relationships AFAIK. But it’s good you were able to rescue some of the parts.
And I 100% hear you about the being/not being able to spend money on parts. The tech industry (where I am) can be volatile, and when stuff goes sideways I immediately drop into austerity mode. Part of that is no job means no parts. 🙁
Yeah. My experience prior to journalism was in tech marketing. I’m ultra-screwed right now.
‘The Dance’ – Garth Brooks
That is all…
David, that Studebaker Champ is amazing. And it only has 123,456 miles on it!
Wait.
I just looked it up and 1963 Champs only had 5 digit odometers. This seller is clearly being deceptive. Better unwind the deal now.
STOP IT!
Fix the ones you already have man!
David, it may be time to accept that while these were unobtainium in the upper Midwest they might simply be uncommon in Southern California.
I sold my XJ this summer and I keep starting to look. Nevermind I have a wedding in 6 weeks and should wait until my bonus hits in January to buy a new toy.
Whoo thats my local yard, I’ve gotten parts for every one of my shitboxes there.
I grew up in that yard, its one of the best I’ve ever been to.
{ sigh }
…y’all got any of them VW 411 parts over there?
How do people get their newly purchased shitboxes home?
Trailer, AAA, dealer plate, or just throw your own plate on and keep your fingers crossed that you don’t get popped??
I drove a car 1,300 miles home on my old plate from the car I had just sold to make room for the new one. Was this technically legal? No, but I figured if I drove normally, I have much less of a chance getting pulled over than driving 1,300 miles across ten states with no license plate at all. And that old plate was simply going to get registered with the new car anyway. This is absolutely not the legal way to do it. My own tax collector even told me so but I ignored them.
I drove from Colorado to Texas with no plates back in 14. Figured it would be annoying if I got stopped but at least I had the title, bill of sale, and proof of insurance with me. Somehow didn’t get stopped once.
I’m sure this varies by state, but Washington will sell you a 3 day “Trip Permit” that you can attach to any vehicle.
RI does temp plates, but you need to have title or bill of sale and proof of insurance. Not very helpful if you drive out to look at a car and want to drive it back. I’ve used the temp plate to buy a car in a neighboring state once, driving back and forth twice was a pain.
In Minnesota the plate stays with the car so you can just drive it home. I’ve also trailered a car home when I didn’t want to pester my friends to make a long-ish drive with me to pick it up.
I drove my Facebook Find ’64 Corvair home on one carb with a pillar of hot oil smoke a half-mile long. My wife was following me and had to pull over and wait for my PigPen cloud to subside.
I towed mine on a rented uhaul dolly. Got most of the way home before one of the original tires on a 1978 Fiat turned to dust. A decent dolly can be bought for 5-6 hundred dollars. If you are going to a rust free area and towing to a rusty area buy one tow your car and sell the dolly for a couple hundred profit.
I used to do the 3 day trip permit as mentioned below. For my last purchase 700mi away when I got there the seller had taken off the plates. So I just went for it and had the wife follow me and do her best to not let people get between us, well at least not a cop. I was most concerened in the state I bought it in ID and the other state that I had to go through OR. Once I was back in WA I felt a little less concerned considering the sheer number of cars I see on the road w/o plates or really expired tabs. I figured I could talk my way out of a ticket since I did have a title dated that day. I made it home and first thing Mon morning I went and got plates. I figured it would be less of a issue with a cop if I was pulled over and I had plates that didn’t match the vehicle.
Great find! Definitely worth the effort.
I absolutely love looking, yet somehow I always restrain myself from buying. Sometimes to my detriment, when I know something is a really good price. Most recent one that got away was a “rust-free” 80-series Landcruiser in CT for 6500. I drove my buddy’s 80 back in Man and fell in love with them.
Right now I’m mulling over a 91 K5 Jimmy for 2900 that is actually running and driving with solid floors. I’ve always wanted one of these, I just fear that it’ll be a money pit and I’d be better off just spending the $$$ to buy a “good” one.
I also spend a lot of time looking at XJ’s, I’d love to snag a nicely built XJ trail rig.
I have a 4Runner, but they’re worth too much, I don’t want to bounce it off trees or put it on its side.
Working on your carma, I see.
This dude heads east of the Sierra Nevada and reverts right back to Michigan Dave. He’s caught between two worlds! The endless sun, sand and social scene of California Dave. Or spaghetti showers, snow and the opportunity to use an angle grinder fairly regularly of Michigan Dave. This can’t be healthy. Surely he will be torn apart like the San Andres Fault!
Likewise. I’ve been in tech for a long time and have found that analog hobbies are necessary (for me, anyway) to achieve a balance.
As far as looking… I think that’s a necessary evil for anyone who pursues vehicles over 10 years old, especially uncommon and/or interesting ones. They all have their white whale parts (white grails? holy whales?) and their availability is unpredictable at best.
On one of my old motorcycles that part is the instrument cluster. The bike was meant to go off-road and the instrument housing (black plastic) didn’t always survive. They are only slightly more available than the spare carrier you described, and finding one that works is rather more difficult. I got around the rarity by purchasing a Canadian cluster that did not work. The eBay seller, to his credit, made sure I understood that it was in kilometers and not functional; I clarified that I wanted it just for the pristine housing [and would transfer the working US innards to it]. He understood immediately.
Then in the ensuing months I found two more of them (US spec) on eBay. 😐
Yes, I bought them.
Yeeeeeah, rare things are another beast, I guess. It hurts right now when people tell me about parsh/wagen availability because I can’t afford to add to the hoard, but in happier times? Any sighting of a 944 or 411 in a junkyard meant an immediate trip for whatever spare parts I could afford because those show up so rarely here.
I am slowly learning this lesson since purchasing my ’91 Thunderbird SC. I’ve been slapping my hand away from the keyboard as I get leads on rare parts that are not currently broken on my car. If I’m going to store an unnecessary part in my garage, it’s going to be for my ’68 Olds.
But how much room can those rare spares really require? Might as well grab them when you can find them. 😉
Agreed. Maybe if it’s anything super coupe specific that wasn’t used on other thunderbirds or Fords, that could be your filter. Love SC’s by the way, especially with the manual they were very underrated cars, and suprisingly reliable if you don’t go crazy with mods.
Yeah… not saying I wouldn’t snatch up a set of factory shocks. Thankfully, mine is great! It’s a ’91 with 91k original miles that had been owned by a Ford collector who meticulously maintained and documented it. It’s got the Mazda 5-speed and it is a great driver – not so perfect that I feel like hiding it away, but good enough that I feel a little guilty putting miles on it.
I had an 89 5 speed. Great cars, save for the gas mileage and the potential for head gasket problems. My head gaskets never went, but a lot of my driving was highway, which might have been a factor. Great stealth car too
I sometimes look for another, just for kicks.
Had the same car. Loved it. I look for another one just for kicks all the time as well. I actually bought a post refresh v8 cougar 3 or 4 cars later but the automatic transmission was utter trash and I wouldn’t recommend one.
I can’t remember how many head gaskets I changed on regular 3.8’s in tauruses, windstars, etc…. The SC’s had (I believe) a much better head gasket and I can’t remember a single one of those needing a replacement. I’m sure that’s not the case if someone did poor maintenance, overheated it, and/or increased the boost… but overall I kinda hated the regular 3.8l but loved the SC 3.8l
Also the 3.8L SC motor was very low volume compared to the base 3.8 so that obviously factors in to it.
I didn’t have any problems out of my head gasket either but I don’t remember ever actually breaking anything. It was over 25 years ago, though, and that’s the only sc I have experience with. Mine smoked from ring wear before I got rid of it. I put a lot of miles on it.
if you ever find a 7L Touareg factory spare carrier on your searches, you know where to find me.
seriously though, only one I’ve ever found for sale was in Australia, I begged to freight it and the dude never replied. 🙁
Hey man, get in line! 🙂
Hey, man; some of us HAVE to look at car ads every day. It’s, like, our JOB.
Does it help you build up resistance? Does it ever get better?
Actually, it does… for real cars. For vintage RC cars on eBay – no comment.
“cold can of pop”
I didn’t realize yinz were from PA
Pop is also very much a Michigan thing. So much so that the official name of the second-best flavor of Faygo is Redpop.
Also a Wisconsin thing.
😀
https://www.businessinsider.com/soda-pop-coke-map-2018-10
Growing up in WV, “pop” was always seen as just a PA thing.
The fuck is happening in NV?